*This blog post originally appeared on the National Grain and Feed Digital Solutions (NGFDS) website and is re-published with the kind permission of NGFDS.

US agri houses and barge lines recently achieved a major digital trade milestone, issuing and exchanging over 150,000 negotiable electronic barge Bills of Lading (BLs) using the ICE CargoDocs-powered Barge Digital Transformation (BDT) Solution.

The industry-led BDT solution was co-developed by ICE Digital Trade and the NGFA-led digital trade body, National Grain and Feed Digital Solutions (NGFDS), to digitize the negotiable barge Bills of Lading processed by NGFA members. BDT is used today by 55 agricultural commodity shippers & traders and 17 barge lines, for southbound Mississippi waterway movements across commodities including corn, wheat, soybean, and soybean meal.

Commenting on the milestone achievement, Charlie Delacruz, Executive Director, NGFDS, and Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, NGFA, said: “It is exciting to commemorate this milestone, especially in conjunction with the four-year anniversary of the launching of the Barge Digital Transformation (BDT) platform. It is also hard to believe only four years ago the industry had no real options to the time-consuming, inefficient and costly delays inherent in the paperwork-intensive processes formerly common in the barge trade. Since launching for corn in November 2020, BDT now provides for trading in all the target commodities including corn, wheat, soybeans, DDGs and soybean meal, with an estimated 90% of all bills of lading for southbound Mississippi River flows digitized using the BDT platform. The quick and complete success of this innovation has been truly remarkable.”   

Brittany Batz, Project Manager, NGFDS, and Business Technology Partner Supply Chain, Bunge, said: “This achievement demonstrates the deep need for digitalized products in the industry and shows what a group of like-minded individuals can achieve. We are proud to see the industry adopt the product so widely in such a short period of time.”

John Kopina, Board Chairman, NGFDS, and Domestic Execution Manager, Louis Dreyfus Company, said: “As we celebrate this accomplishment, it's a perfect opportunity to reflect on our successes and chart a course for continued improvement within our industry.”

Katerina Anagnostara, Director, Customer Success, ICE Digital Trade, added: “This milestone is the result of excellent collaboration between US agri barge supply chain stakeholders, orchestrated by NGFDS’s exceptional team, which was instrumental in engaging NGFA members to swiftly adopt a digital process addressing the major issues caused by using paper BLs. NGFDS remains at the forefront of digital trade innovation, and we are delighted to support BDT users in their efforts to digitally transform domestic US agricultural trade.”